The Body Blog
Your Spring Allergies May be a Symptom of a Larger Problem
Spring is here in Northern Nevada and often spring is accompanied by seasonal allergies, or what we think are seasonal allergies. True allergies will usually occur at the same time every year and make you feel slightly run down or give you cold-like symptoms for a few days or up to two weeks. However, as a functional medicine coach, I see many women who blame feeling crappy on “seasonal allergies” that have been going on for months. Sinus infections and respiratory issues are common signals there is something else going on in the body to cause these chronic symptoms [...]
My Health Journey to Finding Functional Medicine
Functional Medicine saved my life. Before I found functional medicine, I spent years feeling tired, boated, cranky, and just plain crappy. As a physical therapist, I have been really healthy and active my whole life, but when I hit my late 30s something changed. I was stressed and the definition of “wired and tired”. I was doing too much and really burning myself out. I over-exercised and ended up gaining weight instead of losing or maintaining; my gut was a bloated mess no matter what I ate; I was anxious; and I was in some sort of pain constantly. At [...]
9 Signs Your Exercise Routine May Be Too Much
When is it too much of a good thing not a good thing? Let’s go back to the basics: if it feels good, it is usually good; if it feels like pain, that is a sign that your body is injured or needs a break. And pain is not always obvious right away - it can sneak up on you over time. Pain is our body’s way of warning and protecting us by stimulating the nervous system to produce chemical reactions (a stress response) to signal the body. Unfortunately it has become a badge of honor in our American [...]
Movement Contributes to Learning and Healthy Growth in Children and Teens
There are numerous studies done on the interaction between movement (motor development) and cognitive function. Children who are more physically active perform better at tasks involving memory than sedentary children. With each new experience, the muscles form a movement pattern, often referred to as muscle memory. These movement patterns create new synapses in the brain enabling us to perform this movement again without having to re-invent the pattern. The more patterns we create and practice the more adept we are at navigating our bodies through the world. We know the brain needs oxygen to survive and thrive. By moving, [...]
Create Your Healthy New Year’s Exercise Routine for 2021
It’s a new year and 2020 is behind us (thank goodness)! And with the calendar turning to 2021, comes new resolutions - many of which will have to do with exercise and goals for strength and weight loss. When starting a new exercise program, or picking one back up after an indulgent-filled holiday season, you must be conscious of overtraining and undereating or calorie restriction, which often go hand-in-hand. This is a recipe for disaster for your health and achieving your goals. Often trainers push the intensity for all aspects of health like promoting the restriction of calories and [...]
Working from Home? Can Be A Pain in the Neck
With so many of us now working from home we have had to very quickly throw together a workspace, that may also double( or triple) as a school room and lunchroom all at once! The study of Ergonomics is the study of people's efficiency in their working environment. With the new environment at home, working different hours, different situations many people are now feeling the effects of poor workspace design. The most common symptoms I see are increased back pain, neck pain, headaches, numbness and tingling in hands and down the back of the leg. We want you to know [...]
Are you ready to FIGHT?
COVID-19 shelter in place. Wear a mask, social distancing, hand washing. We are being given the information of how to hide from this disease, I want to give information on how to fight. I am not saying to throw all this very important information out the window by any stretch. Please follow these guidelines but realize we are only being given information how to hide, how to avoid, NOT how to fight. At some point we will all be exposed to this virus, at that point how will you fight? Our immune system is complex. First line of defense is [...]
“The Repeat Offender”
Is a repetitive motion causing your pain?A common concern my patient’s share with me when discussing the history of their injury is “I’m not sure what caused my pain, I can’t remember doing anything to injure it, I’m not doing anything new or different.” Oftentimes the patient is frustrated because they didn’t expect their pain to linger for this long, hence why they have come to see me. Soon after the above statement I often will hear “I’ve had some pain off and on in the past (back/knee/shoulder or some other body part), but it would always go away in [...]
What/ where do you want to be January 1st 2020?
How do you imagine your New Year’s Day to be? Waking up with a hangover or a food coma? Or maybe waking up with relief and/or regret that the holidays are over? Or wake up feeling just as good or even better than you do now? The holiday season is supposed to be fun and time for joyous congregation. But unfortunately for many, it can turn into a frenzy of parties, food gluttony, increased drinking, decreased sleeping, poor attempts at self-care, and feelings of unworthiness and lost expectations. Not to mention all the family dynamics that seem to magnify 1000 [...]
Feeling Fat and Frustrated
Are you a woman between the ages of 35 to 55 who feels fat and frustrated? Do you have more anxiety than you’ve ever had and it seems like everyone is driving you crazy? Maybe you’ve tried everything from dieting, exercising, and yoga to a 6-week transformational program, but nothing seems to work. You’ve given it everything you have and you are still not able to have the energy, body, or life that you dream of. Believe me, I’ve been there and I know how you feel. I was almost 40 years old and found myself nearly 30 pounds [...]
